Iíve picked 2005 because I wanted to do a more recent one this time and this one looked like it had the best on paper lineup. The show is essentially Bragging Rights 05 as itís built around a Raw vs. Smackdown theme, with three interpromotional matches, including a ten man elimination main event. Sadly itís also the show that took place in the wake of Eddie Guerreroís death two weeks earlier, so we have many signs in the crowd referring to that and a lot of the guys are still wearing their black armbands.

The Setup: After a match on Smackdown with Booker defending against Benoit where they did a double pin finish, Teddy Long held the Title up and ordered a best of seven series to determine the new champion. This is also a throwback to their best of seven for the TV Title back in WCW in 1998.

The Action: They go through an extended feeling out process where nothing much really happens. Booker takes over with a side slam for 2, as well as a spin kick and a neckbreaker. Benoit reverses a suplex and gets a German, but Booker escapes the 2nd one and hits a kick for 2. Benoit comes back, trying a Sharpshooter, but gets small packaged for 2. He retains control and gets a snap suplex and the triple Germans, but Sharmell distracts him on the headbutt. Booker is there, but Benoit knocks him back and goes for it again, but misses. Booker then gets him with an Oklahoma roll with his feet on the ropes for 3 at 14:39.

The Verdict: This was not that good considering what I was expecting from them. My only guess is that since they knew they had to do a whole series of matches, they kept this one low key to build to the later ones being better. **

The Setup: MNM come to Raw last Monday and kidnapped Stratus so that Melina could challenger her to a Title match here tonight. Mickie is here in the period where she was Stratusí obsessed fan, but hadnít yet made her lesbian intentions known.

The Action: Melina is wearing boots here that are right out of the Berzerker collection. Trish charges in for revenge and Melina bails, so Trish just dives on all of MNM. Back in, Melina takes over with some choking and then goes after Mickie, but thatís just to distract the ref so Nitro and Mercury can take Trish out. He catches them in the act however and ejects them. Melina gets a Flying Something or Other for 2 that looked pretty ugly. The finish then sees Mickie help Trish avoid a charge and Trish finishes her with a top rope bulldog at 6:31.

The Verdict: Melina isnít very good today, but with five years less experience under her belt she was much, much worse. Trish tried, but had nothing to work with here. DUD

Last Man Standing Match: Triple H vs. Ric Flair

The Setup: HHH had turned on his friend Flair back in October, claiming that his time was up and he was just making a fool of himself at this point. They had a cage match at Taboo Tuesday, and Flair beat him, but that didnít settle things so a rematch was set for this show, this time with the Last Man Standing stip.

The Action: HHH jumps him in the aisle and weíre underway. Flair is actually the IC Champ here, although itís not on the line. This ends up being a very brutal match as Flair takes a lot of punishment, including multiple suplexes on the floor. HHH rakes a screwdriver across his head to draw blood, and itís a good one as Flair proceeds to bleed everywhere. Flair then gets a run in control after backdropping HHH through a table, but canít keep him down after chairshots and an extended period of holding the figure four. HHH takes over again and Flair is done, but wonít quit. He manages to get back up after a pedigree three separate times, so HHH finally pulls out the sledgehammer and that keeps Flair down for the 10 count at 27:01. He ends up going out on a stretcher, covered in blood, which is a pretty decisive finish right there.

The Verdict: I thought that this match was great. They brutalized each other appropriately for this kind of match and the story of Flair refusing to give up until he canít even move anymore was awesome. ****

Edge then comes out with Lita for an interview segment where he mocks the local sports teams. A Detroit Tigers player happens to be in the front row, so he defends the city and asks Edge where his World Title is, which cases Edge to bail. Good little segment that keeps him in the spotlight and remind people about his Money in the Bank contract.

WWE Championship Match: John Cena vs. Kurt Angle

The Setup: Theyíve been feuding since right after Summerslam, but Angle has been unable to win the Title in two PPV matches. So to stack the odds in his favour, Angle recruited Daivari as his personal referee and got Eric Bischoff to agree to assign him this match.

The Action: The first few minutes is a bunch of stuff where Daivari blatantly favours Angle, such as holding Cena back when Angle bails, and kicking Cenaís arm away when he makes the ropes in a hold. Cena smacks him, so he has to be talked out of disqualifying Cena by Angle as Angle wouldnít get the Title that way. Cena then wipes both of them out and apparently that was enough to kill Daivari as we donít see him again until the end. So a series of regular refs come out, each in turn also getting laid out as they go through their stuff. Finally Angle wants Daivari back, so he rolls him in and tries to get rid of the newest regular ref. But our hero Cena DDTís Daivari and hits Angle with the FU with Charles Robinson counting 3 at 13:57.

The Verdict: Cena was still very green at this point as evidenced by the fact that even with a great worker like Angle, he still needed all kinds of shortcuts to have a watchable match. So it wasnít boring or anything because there was always something going on and the crowd heat was pretty off the charts for both guys, but there was nothing great about it either. **1/2

Eric Bischoff vs. Teddy Long (w/Palmer Cannon)

The Setup: The General Managers battle for brand supremacy as a prelude to the main event.

The Action: The early part of the match sees Long dancing and Bischoff getting in a few shots here and there. Not much else happens, and then Boogeyman comes out and plants Bischoff with the pumphandle slam. Long then gets the pin off of that at 5:26.

The Verdict: Sure, Raw vs. Smackdown is the theme of the show, but this was a mistake. -*

The Setup: The top Smackdown guys were brought in to the Raw Homecoming show last month, but Eric Bischoff cancelled the match at the last minute to kick off a feud between the two shows. Smackdown responded by invading the Taboo Tuesday PPV and dominating, which led Bischoff to issue the challenge for this match here tonight.

The Action: First of all, they have all five announcers calling this match, except that theyíre not actually calling the match, but rather theyíre spending most of it having petty arguments over which is the better show. Itís very distracting and definitely hurts the match. So they start off with a few guys tagging in and out and going back and forth. The crowd buzzes for Lashley when he gets in for the first time, but because no oneís allowed to get over, he just gets casually chokeslammed by Kane and pinned by Shawn at 7:19. Batista, who is injured coming in here, but gutted it out to take the spot that Eddie would have been in, runs wild next. Rey helps out and 619ís Kane into a spinebuster for the pin at 11:44. Kane wonít leave though until he and Show (who are World Tag Team Champions at this point) double chokeslam Batista, and then Show pins him at 12:31. Show then takes everything Smackdown can throw at him, including a Clothesline From Hell, 619, and RKO, but keeps getting back up until another Clothesline From Hell and sitdown splash from Rey ends his night at 14:29. It breaks down into a six way brawl at this point with Shawn taking a JBL fallaway slam on the floor, which puts him down for awhile, so Carlito and Masters are essentially left for Raw. And with the benefit of hindsight, thatís pretty amazing. Carlito gets Clotheslined by JBL and pinned at 17:37 to put him in his place. Masters then takes a beating and loses to a springboard legdrop from Rey at 19:03. So Shawn is alone, and still dead on the floor. JBL helpfully revives him, even though they could have left him there and won by countout since he automatically becomes the legal man at that point. He gets put in with Rey and takes a 619, but nails Rey with a Superkick as he springboards off the ropes and pins him at 20:32. JBL tries the clothesline, but itís ducked and he takes the Superkick as well at 20:47. So itís Orton against Shawn. Shawn quickly takes control and goes through the usual finishing sequence, but as he sets up the Superkick, JBL comes back in with a chair. Shawn avoids that, but takes an RKO for the 3 count at 24:02. Team Smackdown wins Bragging Rights, and all the B Team guys from that show come out and hoist Orton up. But then the dong hits and a casket is brought out revealing that Undertaker has returned from his recent death at the hands of Orton. He kills the B Team, but Orton escapes for now.

The Verdict: This is actually a pretty fun match, but much like Bragging Rights today, itís basically meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Also, if you watch this show, turn the sound off, otherwise youíre just going to want to kill all of the announcers within the first few minutes. ***1/2

Overall Thoughts: All in all, I think we have a pretty good show here, although not a home run or anything. HHH/Flair wins match of the night, and is definitely something worth going out of your way to see. The main event is definitely good too, and even Cena/Angle is fine if you donít mind the overbooking, and thatís half the show right there. The two crap matches are kept short, so they donít hurt things that badly, and are easily skippable anyways. Overall, Iíll call it a mild Thumbs Up for Survivor Series 2005, but other than the Last Man Standing match, thereís nothing you gotta see here.